‘Rainbow’ Connections</h1> <article> <h1>‘Rainbow’ Connections</h1> <p>tapplega — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 19:36:42 +0000</p> <span>‘Rainbow’ Connections</span> <span><span>tapplega</span></span> <span><time datetime="2023-04-14T15:36:42-04:00" title="Friday, April 14, 2023 - 15:36">Fri, 04/14/2023 - 15:36</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Amara Granderson ’17 was all of 9 years old when she first took to the stage. A native of Brooklyn, New York, she’d been exposed to theater throughout her childhood on outings to the city with her family. One of those trips came in 2013, when she experienced a performance of Shakespeare’s iconic comedy<em> A Midsummer Night’s Dream</em>, staged by a director named <a href="/node/4961">Justin Emeka</a>.</p> <p>So when Granderson arrived at �鶹��Ƶ as a first-year student in the autumn, it was no surprise that she found herself drawn back to the spotlight. She selected a major of <a href="/node/3431">Africana studies</a>, but quickly started forging ties with �鶹��Ƶ’s <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater">theater</a> faculty too. One of them was the same Justin Emeka who made an impression on her months earlier. Emeka has been adapting and directing plays since his own graduation from �鶹��Ƶ in 1995.</p> <p>“She has an incredible charisma on stage and a very creative sense of humor,” says Emeka, who routinely casts �鶹��Ƶ students and alumni in productions he directs. He cast Granderson—in her sophomore year—in the world premiere of Stick Fly, a play he directed in Seattle. That same year, she starred in the debut of What We Look Like, written by her good friend and fellow Obie <a href="https://oberlinreview.org/17805/arts/b-j-tindal-oc-16-playwright/">B.J. Tindal ’16</a>. In her senior year, she portrayed The Lady in Red in Ntozake Shange’s <em>for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf</em>, a choreopoem that explores the lives and challenges of young Black women in America. </p> <p>By the time commencement rolled around in spring 2017, Granderson was fully committed to performance. “I wanted to continue to better my craft, and wanted to see what I could do with more training,” she recalls.</p> <p>She continued her studies in an MFA program at the University of California, San Diego. There she overcame pandemic limitations by presenting a virtual showcase with her classmates, using clever editing to make it seem as if the performers were together—when in reality, they were filming from their own bedrooms. It captured the attention of talent agents and managers, and launched Granderson on a yearlong marathon of flights to Los Angeles for TV gigs, followed by return trips to New York to scour for stage opportunities.</p> <p>In fall 2021, she submitted an audition for a Broadway revival of <em>for colored girls</em>, directed and choreographed by Camille A. Brown—the first Broadway show in more than 60 years to be directed and choreographed by a Black woman. Granderson knew she would thrive if given the chance, and a few short weeks later it happened.</p> <p>“All my dreams came true in one phone call,” she says, recalling her first disbelieving words to her manager: “Broadway? Do you have that in writing?” The show opened in April 2022, with Granderson in the role of The Lady in Orange. </p> <p>“It felt like a perfect fit,” she says. “I knew I had to be here.”</p> <p>The production was met with immediate success, selling out each of its initial dates—including many audiences peppered with Granderson’s �鶹��Ƶ friends and former castmates—and extending an additional month. It went on to garner seven Tony Award nominations, including Best Play.</p> <p>The payoff meant everything to Granderson, who still vividly recalls her first angst-ridden visit with director Brown. “Surrounded by all these professionals, I came in doubting my own ability,” she recalls. And what has she gained since? “A confidence and intention that I did not have prior to the show in the way that I do now.”</p> <p>Recently, Granderson reconnected with Emeka in Pittsburgh, to perform in his adaptation of the same classic she saw him direct 10 years ago, now recast as <em>A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Harlem</em>. Granderson played the role of Lysandra, a gender-bent version of Shakespeare’s Lysander. </p> <p>She continues to audition and perform all over the country, with her sights set on returning to Broadway. Her message for young actors—and one she follows herself—is to “always be open to learning new things. If you expand your abilities, you’ll always have opportunities in acting.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Amara Granderson’s visions of Broadway came into focus on the stages of �鶹��Ƶ.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2023-04-21T12:00:00Z">Fri, 04/21/2023 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tyler Applegate</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2360">After �鶹��Ƶ</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2368">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2372">Performing Arts</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25441">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=4821">Africana Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/justin-emeka" hreflang="und">Justin Emeka ’95</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater" hreflang="und">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/africana-studies" hreflang="und">Africana Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Amara Granderson (center) with her Broadway castmates.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Sara Krulwich, New York Times/courtesy of Amara Granderson</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>�鶹��Ƶ Opera Theater to Present Offenbach and Rossini Double Bill</h1> <p>cstrauss — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 19:53:01 +0000</p> <span>�鶹��Ƶ Opera Theater to Present Offenbach and Rossini Double Bill</span> <span><span>cstrauss</span></span> <span><time datetime="2022-11-07T14:53:01-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2022 - 14:53">Mon, 11/07/2022 - 14:53</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Composers Gioachino Rossini and Jacques Offenbach are mostly known for a small part of their voluminous output for the lyric stage.</p> <p>Rossini achieved fame for his 39 operas before abruptly leaving the genre behind at the surprising young age of 37. He lived and composed for another 40 years, but didn’t write any other theatrical works.</p> <p>Many of Offenbach’s hundred or so stage works are not heard very frequently these days, aside from <em>Orpheus in the Underworld</em> and <em>The Tales of Hoffmann</em>.</p> <p>They each wrote several one-act works, and �鶹��Ƶ Opera Theater will present two of them in four performances at �鶹��Ƶ College’s Hall Auditorium, running Thursday, November 10 through Sunday, November 13.</p> <p>Offenbach’s operetta <em>Le mariage aux lanternes</em> ("The Wedding by Lantern Light") and Rossini’s burletta <em>L'occasione fa il ladro</em> ("Opportunity Makes a Thief")—have never been presented on �鶹��Ƶ stages before.</p> <p>Both are double cast with �鶹��Ƶ Conservatory vocal performance students. A full orchestra, led by conductor and �鶹��Ƶ alumnus Joseph Mechavich ’92, will collaborate. Longtime opera professor Jonathon Field is directing the production.</p> <p>Offenbach’s <em>Le mariage aux lanternes</em> has been described as a semi-hidden gem. The farce—a simple love story set in a country village—consists of an overture and seven musical numbers connected by spoken dialogue, with a witty libretto by Michel Carré, one of the most prolific French librettists of his time. The operetta will be sung in French, with projected English supertitles.</p> <p>Following this will be Rossini’s <em>L'occasione fa il ladro</em>, written when the composer had just turned twenty. It offers an early taste of the great masterpieces that flowed from Rossini's pen—delightful comedy, brilliant vocal writing, and an orchestral overture with some of his signature storm music. This work—a comedic romp where identities and affections are swapped between two pairs of would-be lovers—will be sung in Italian with English supertitles.</p> <p>This production will be one of the last at �鶹��Ƶ for director Jonathon Field. He has announced his retirement as associate professor of opera theater after the academic year ends.</p> <p>Field has been at the helm of <a href="/opera-theater">�鶹��Ƶ Opera Theater</a> since 1997. A trailblazer in the world of opera, he has directed more than 120 opera productions across the United States, working with companies including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, Arizona Opera and Opera Omaha. He is fascinated with traditional as well as modern stage techniques and he has developed and been using video-projected scenery for more than 25 years in productions that have been called “brilliant,” “dazzling” and “riveting.”</p> <p>“Each opera has its individual flavor that comes from the countries of origin: France and Italy,” says Field. “The French opera deals with the rustic life that was still a part of the culture, with songs that everyone can enjoy even now. </p> <p>“The Italian work has a more complex plot, dealing with mistaken identities and mixed up luggage, which we are calling ‘Love's Luggage Lost.’ Our design and technical team have created worlds that are modern, yet keep the unique flavor of each piece. We are also fortunate to have with us alumnus Joseph Mechavich as guest conductor.”</p> <p>Mechavich has established a leading position on the modern music podium with breakthrough productions of contemporary operas such as Jake Heggie’s <em>Dead Man Walking</em>, <em>Moby-Dick</em>, <em>Great Scott</em>, <em>Out of Darkness: Two Remain</em>, and <em>Three Decembers</em>, as well as Carlisle Floyd’s <em>Susannah</em>, <em>Cold Sassy Tree</em>, <em>Of Mice and Me</em>n, and <em>Wuthering Heights</em>, to name a few. This season, Mechavich will be on the podium for <em>La Boheme</em>, <em>La Cenerentola</em>, and <em>The Gift of the Magi</em> at Kentucky Opera, where he serves as principal conductor and artistic consultant. He’ll also return to Opera North Carolina for <em>Don Giovanni.</em></p> <p>Field shares, “It will be a unique opportunity to see these pieces and,” he winks, “it’s two operas for the price of one!”</p> <p><strong><a href="/tickets/event-details?EventId=1401">TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW</a></strong>: �鶹��Ƶ Opera Theater’s <em>Le mariage aux lanternes</em> ("The Wedding by Lantern Light") and <em>L'occasione fa il ladro</em> ("Opportunity Makes a Thief") will be performed at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, November 10-12; the run concludes with a 2 p.m. matinee Sunday, November 13. Hall Auditorium is at 67 N. Main St. in �鶹��Ƶ.</p> <p>Tickets ($10, $8 for all students) are available by calling 800-371-0178, by visiting Central Ticket Service (67 N. Main St., �鶹��Ƶ) noon to 5 p.m. weekdays, or through the <a href="/tickets/event-details?EventId=1401">online box office</a>. All seating is general admission.</p> <p> </p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Romance and deception engulf this pairing of comedies featuring �鶹��Ƶ vocal studies students and guest conductor Joseph Mechavich ’92.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2022-11-07T12:00:00Z">Mon, 11/07/2022 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Cathy Partlow Strauss ’84</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3318">Music</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2372">Performing Arts</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2974">Conservatory Alumni</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=32971">Opera Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=35596">Voice</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/vocal-studies" hreflang="und">Vocal Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/conducting-and-ensembles" hreflang="und">Conducting and Ensembles</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Scene from a rehearsal of Rossini's "L'occasione fa il ladro."</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Amber Rogers</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Cassandra Gutterman-Johns Awarded Fulbright ETA to Czech Republic</h1> <p>anagy — Mon, 02 May 2022 16:44:41 +0000</p> <span>Cassandra Gutterman-Johns Awarded Fulbright ETA to Czech Republic</span> <span><span>anagy</span></span> <span><time datetime="2022-05-02T12:44:41-04:00" title="Monday, May 2, 2022 - 12:44">Mon, 05/02/2022 - 12:44</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Fourth-year Cassandra Gutterman-Johns is excited to teach, travel, and reach outside her comfort zone with a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in the Czech Republic beginning in August 2022. </p> <p>A theater and creative writing major with minors in gender, sexuality, and feminist studies and comparative American studies, Gutterman-Johns will apply the teaching experiences she learned from serving as a course writing associate in the <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/rhetoric-and-composition">Rhetoric and Composition Department</a> and a creative writing associate in the <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/creative-writing">Creative Writing Program</a>, as well as the skills in creative problem solving, collaboration, and implementing systems for communication and organization through her work in the <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater">Theater Department</a>.</p> <p>This year, she served as the LabSeries Production Manager in the theater department. She has also stage managed a number of mainstage productions and worked in the electrics and paint shops in the theater.</p> <p>“I’m looking forward to having an immersive experience and stepping outside of my comfort zone, as well as getting to see more of the world after not traveling for a few years and missing out on my study abroad program because of the pandemic,” says Gutterman-Johns, a resident of Salem, Oregon. “I’m hoping to learn more about pedagogy and education, and gain a clearer sense of what career path will be right for me.” </p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2022-05-02T12:00:00Z">Mon, 05/02/2022 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Amanda Nagy</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2373">Awards and Honors</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2363">Academics & Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2377">Arts & Humanities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2372">Performing Arts</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25326">Creative Writing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25441">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25311">Comparative American Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25361">Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/creative-writing" hreflang="und">Creative Writing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater" hreflang="und">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/gsfs" hreflang="und">Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/comparative-american-studies" hreflang="und">Comparative American Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Fourth-year Cassandra Gutterman-Johns will teach and immerse herself in the culture of the Czech Republic.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tanya Rosen-Jones '97</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Dance, Creative Writing Faculty Members Receive Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards</h1> <p>anagy — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 18:03:04 +0000</p> <span>Dance, Creative Writing Faculty Members Receive Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards</span> <span><span>anagy</span></span> <span><time datetime="2022-03-11T13:03:04-05:00" title="Friday, March 11, 2022 - 13:03">Fri, 03/11/2022 - 13:03</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Assistant Professor of Creative Writing <a href="/chanda-feldman">Chanda Feldman</a>, Assistant Professor of Dance <a href="/holly-handman-lopez">Holly Handman-Lopez</a>, and Visiting Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Dance <a href="/talise-campbell">Talise Campbell</a> are among 75 Ohio artists who each received $5,000 in grant funding from the Ohio Arts Council’s <a href="https://oac.ohio.gov/News-Events/ArtsOhio-Blog/ohio-artists-receive-individual-excellence-awards-for-work-in-literary-arts-choreography-and-music-composition">Individual Excellence Awards</a> program in February.</p> <p>Individual Excellence Awards are peer recognition of an artist’s body of work that exemplifies their specific discipline and advances the larger artistic community. These awards support artists' growth and development and recognize their work in Ohio and beyond.</p> <p>During the fiscal year 2022 funding cycle, applications were accepted in the disciplines of choreography, criticism, fiction, music composition, nonfiction, playwriting, and poetry.</p> <p>Individual Excellence Award funding is awarded through an anonymous, open panel review process focused on the basis of exceptional merit of an artist’s past body of work.</p> <p>This is the first Ohio Arts Council award for Feldman, who was also selected for an artist residency at Loghaven Artist Residency this year. She is working on a full-length poetry collection.</p> <p>“One of the genres I’m using in the book is ekphrasis—that is, writing that describes and engages works of art. In my case, that means poems that respond to visual art. I’m particularly focused on work by Black visual artists and photographers,” Feldman says. “I plan to use the grant for extended visits to collections and museums. There are so many wonderful treasures close by such as the Taft Museum of Art, the Toledo Museum of Art, the Paul Laurence Dunbar House, and the Cleveland Museum of Art.”</p> <p>Feldman says she is grateful for the tangible support that makes it possible to take time away from other obligations to follow creative hunches and ideas. “It’s also gratifying to know that fellow artists are excited by my participation in the literary conversation.” </p> <p>Handman-Lopez was awarded her second Individual Excellence prize for work that was created and performed by �鶹��Ƶ students early in the pandemic. </p> <p>“When everything closed down in 2020, I thought, ‘I’ll sit it out. I’ll wait until we can partner and tangle and breathe on each other.’ But then I thought of my students, not wanting them to lose an entire year of creating and performing,” she says. When an opportunity came along to teach a class on site-specific dance, it seemed like the perfect solution. In the Space Between Walking and Running is a site-specific piece set along Plum Creek in �鶹��Ƶ, created in collaboration with Chanda Feldman and the dance and poetry students in the <a href="/oberlin-center-convergence/learning-communities/fieldwork-place-dance">StudiOC cluster</a>, Fieldwork: The Art of Place Through Poetry and Dance.</p> <p>“We were exploring our relationship to water, the land, and historical events that have taken place at these sites. We chose the two parks because the monuments and memorials helped situate our history within a larger national historical context, and because of the creek that runs through them. The waterway called us with its peaceful flow and reminded us of the environmental crises we confront. This collaborative work of dancers, poets, and musicians acknowledges difficult history while highlighting hope for the future.”</p> <p>She also collaborated with Associate Professor of Computer Music and Digital Arts <a href="/tom-lopez">Tom Lopez</a> to add a dance component to a new composition for a film. </p> <p>“Tempus Ouroboros was created for an orchestra forced to rehearse in very unusual ways, in a variety of spaces so they could remain physically distant,” she explains. “This film was streamed, as live performances were still not possible. The piece plays with time, overlapping realities, retrogrades, and the splintering of paths, which presented some delightful challenges for me as the choreographer.”</p> <p>The site-specific work was also made possible with support from a grant for <a href="https://mellon.org/grants/grants-database/grants/oberlin-college/21600603/">StudiOC learning communities</a> from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.</p> <p>“That season, which I imagined would be so quiet, became a whirlwind of explorations and a time of shattering perceived limitations,” Handman-Lopez says. “Letting go of trying to control everything was eye-opening. I’m so grateful to have made this work, and to be honored for it is deeply heartening.”</p> <p>Campbell was awarded for choreography work titled <em>Mendiani</em> (My sweet young child), stemming from the Malinke people of Guinea and Mali West Africa. The folkloric work is about a girl’s rite of passage. It was produced and presented at Playhouse Squares's Ohio Theater for Djapo Cultural Arts Institute's 9th annual Juneteenth Concert. </p> <p>Campbell is the executive founding artistic director and choreographer of Djapo Cultural Arts Institute in Cleveland, Ohio, where her mission is to preserve traditional music, art, dance, and history through her international travel and community engagement programs. She creates multi-disciplinary and socially engaging dance for theater, screen, stage and the public space. Her work is continuously focused around research, musicality, authenticity and the African-American experience. She comes from a family of artisans—including her great grandmother, acclaimed actress Minnie Gentry; and her cousin, actor and producer Terrence Howard.</p> <p>At �鶹��Ƶ, Campbell teaches courses in West African dance, folkloric foundations, dances of the diaspora, choreography in cultural traditions, and social justice in dance. This is her first Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council. </p> <p>“This award also allows me to keep bringing folkloric works to the forefront while having financial support for further research,” she says.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2022-03-14T12:00:00Z">Mon, 03/14/2022 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Amanda Nagy</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2373">Awards and Honors</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2414">Faculty</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2377">Arts & Humanities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2372">Performing Arts</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25331">Dance</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25326">Creative Writing</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/chanda-feldman" hreflang="und">Chanda Feldman</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/holly-handman-lopez" hreflang="und">Holly Handman-Lopez</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/dance" hreflang="und">Dance</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/creative-writing" hreflang="und">Creative Writing</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Warner Concert Hall.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yevhen Gulenko</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-flex-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden vertical-spacing--basic field__items"> <div class="field__item"> <div class="field field--name-field-bio-card-el-biography field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> <div class="biography-card"> <figure> </figure> <div class="biography-card__content"> <h2><span>Chanda Feldman</span> </h2> <ul class="item-list list--clean" style="margin-top: 0px;"> <li class="professional-title">Eric and Jane Nord Associate Professor of Creative Writing</li> </ul> <a class="view-more" href="/chanda-feldman">View Chanda Feldman’s biography</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div class="field field--name-field-bio-card-el-biography field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> <div class="biography-card"> <figure> </figure> <div class="biography-card__content"> <h2><span>Holly Handman-Lopez</span> </h2> <ul class="item-list list--clean" style="margin-top: 0px;"> <li class="professional-title">Assistant Professor of Dance</li> </ul> <a class="view-more" href="/holly-handman-lopez">View Holly Handman-Lopez’s biography</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> </div> </div> </article> <article> <h1>�鶹��Ƶ Dance Department Celebrates 50 Years of Contact Improv</h1> <p>anagy — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 17:26:41 +0000</p> <span>�鶹��Ƶ Dance Department Celebrates 50 Years of Contact Improv</span> <span><span>anagy</span></span> <span><time datetime="2022-03-09T12:26:41-05:00" title="Wednesday, March 9, 2022 - 12:26">Wed, 03/09/2022 - 12:26</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>This summer, �鶹��Ƶ College will host practitioners of Contact Improvisation—a form of partner dance centered around weight-sharing and physical contact—during a five-day festival of events from July 7 through July 11. </p> <p><a href="https://sites.google.com/oberlin.edu/criticalmassci50/home?authuser=0">Critical Mass: CI@50</a> celebrates 50 years of the dance form, as well as <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/dance/contact-improvisation">�鶹��Ƶ’s historic importance</a> as one of the longest-running academic programs for the study, practice, and development of Contact Improvisation (CI). The five-day festival will include jams, workshops, panel discussions, performances, and a display of archival material. Registration opens March 22 at 9 a.m. </p> <p>Event organizers invite participants to engage in rigorous dialogue detailing histories and experiences within communities practicing CI in the past, present, and future. </p> <p>Like traditional improv, there is no script or choreography in CI—dancers instead find and follow the points of contact between them, the floor, and each other. By definition, Contact Improvisation is the opposite of social distancing, but event organizer and Professor of Dance <a href="/ann-cooper-albright">Ann Cooper Albright</a> says it’s important for people to get back in touch (literally) after two years of COVID-19 restrictions. </p> <p>“It is a form that is based on physical contact and the sharing of weight with a partner,” Albright explains. “By attuning to the sensations of that movement connection, two (or more) partners navigate the play of momentum across bodily surfaces and through space.”</p> <h6>Related events</h6> <ul> <li>Leading up to the summer festival, the dance department hosted a Winter Term project and performance showcase with students and guest artist <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/oberlin/albums/72177720296886978">Jurij Konjar</a> on reconstruction of the seminal CI piece <em>Magnesium</em>, with funding in part from a grant from the John P. Murphy Foundation (Cleveland, Ohio). <br> </li> <li>A tribute to the life and work of �鶹��Ƶ Nancy Stark Smith ’74, a pioneer in CI, will be on display at the Mary Church Terrell Main Library from May 6 through July 31. Stark Smith was one of the most pivotal voices, educators, and improvisers in the world of Contact Improvisation, coediting the publication <em>Contact Quarterly: a vehicle for moving ideas</em> for 45 years.<br> </li> <li>At the college’s Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM), an exhibition traces the 50-year history of Contact Improvisation. <a href="https://amam.oberlin.edu/exhibitions-events/exhibitions/2022/01/18/collective-gestures-the-impact-of-experimental-performance-at-oberlin-in-the-1970s">Collective Gestures: The Impact of Experimental Performance at �鶹��Ƶ in the 1970s</a> juxtaposes archival material with works from the AMAM collection to highlight the importance of embodied practice for visual artists as well as dancers. The exhibition features paintings and drawings by Yoko Ono, Theresa Antonellis, John Cage, Robert Motherwell, Judit Reigl, Athena Tacha, and other artists. The show is on display through July 17 in the Ripin Gallery. </li> </ul> <p>This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment of the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit <a href="http://www.arts.gov">www.arts.gov</a>.</p> <p class="obj-center"></p> <p>Additional support for Critical Mass events and programming is provided by the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences, �鶹��Ƶ College, and the John P. Murphy Foundation, as well as the generosity of an anonymous donor and an Ohio-based family foundation focused on arts and education. The dance department extends special gratitude to the Office of the President for funding a series of travel grants. Visit <a href="https://advance.oberlin.edu/campaigns/oberlin-college-endowment-for-dance">�鶹��Ƶ College Endowment for Dance</a> to learn more about supporting dance at �鶹��Ƶ.</p> <p>Contact <a href="mailto:criticalmassci50@gmail.com">criticalmassci50@gmail.com</a> to join the email list and receive more updates.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2022-03-09T12:00:00Z">Wed, 03/09/2022 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Amanda Nagy</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2390">Events</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2402">Winter Term</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2583">College of Arts and Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2372">Performing Arts</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25331">Dance</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/ann-cooper-albright" hreflang="und">Ann Cooper Albright</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/dance" hreflang="und">Dance</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Guest artist Jurij Konjar leads a Winter Term workshop on "Dancing the History of Contact Improvisation" in February 2022.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Clarissa Heart '20</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Gabriel Morales Receives Ping Legacy Award for Service-Learning</h1> <p>anagy — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 20:21:24 +0000</p> <span>Gabriel Morales Receives Ping Legacy Award for Service-Learning</span> <span><span>anagy</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-06-10T16:21:24-04:00" title="Wednesday, June 10, 2020 - 16:21">Wed, 06/10/2020 - 16:21</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Second-year Gabriel Morales, a jazz guitar performance major, has received the 2020 Charles J. Ping Student Service Legacy Award from Ohio Campus Compact.</p> <p>The <a href="https://ohiocampuscompact.org/resource-posts/2020-charles-j-ping-student-service-award-recipients/">Ping Student Service Award</a> recognizes and honors undergraduate students for their outstanding leadership and contributions to community service or service-learning on their campus and within their community. Recipients of the award represent the next generation of civic leaders and problem solvers.</p> <p>Morales is one of two award recipients who was selected for the Legacy Award—a recognition of nominees who show exceptional leadership, initiative, and innovation. The award comes with a $250 mini grant to be given to a nonprofit organization of the winner’s choice. </p> <p>At �鶹��Ƶ, Morales has balanced his pursuit of music studies and performance with community engagement through his work with �鶹��Ƶ Center for the Arts (OCA), an organization that connects students, educators, and the broader community to various forms of arts programming and other area arts organizations.</p> <p>When he joined the OCA team, Morales started collecting data on the accessibility of arts programming for underserved populations, researching and creating arts-in-health programming, and hosting performances for area high school students by acclaimed artists such as Rhiannon Giddens ’00. He recognized a potential for arts programming in hospitals and senior care facilities, and sought out opportunities to bring the arts into underserved health spaces in �鶹��Ƶ.</p> <p>In spring 2019, Morales partnered with musician Ruby Brallier, a graduate of the conservatory’s master’s in historical performance, to pilot performances for Mercy Allen Hospital and Welcome Nursing Home residents. Morales plays jazz guitar and Braillier plays cello and viola da gamba.</p> <p>The following fall, Morales, Brallier, and the OCA team expanded their roster to recruit conservatory instrumentalists and developed Performing Artists In Residence (PAIR), a program model in which musicians give regular performances, either at a patient’s bedside or for small gatherings. </p> <p>The program provides an opportunity to build community and foster personal connections among students and area residents. The health benefits of music in medical institutions extends to care providers by lowering the rates of tension and fatigue in nursing staff.</p> <p>“These performances served the purpose of relieving stress, improving the atmosphere, offering comfort, and providing access to art that is often unavailable,” Morales says. </p> <p>Morales, <a href="http://www.gabemoralesmusic.com/">an accomplished guitarist, vocalist, and composer</a> from Roanoke, Virginia, is a Bonner Scholar and received support and encouragement from the <a href="/bcsl">Bonner Center</a>. </p> <p>Musicians who took part in the program received training in community service learning and working in health spaces, and were prompted to reflect on their performances.</p> <p>“After a full semester of performances, it was clear that the patients and staff at the health facilities were delighted with the programming and eager to see it continue and expand,” Morales says.</p> <p>Due to measures in place to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, all in-person <a href="/bcsl">performances have been discontinued</a> for the time being.</p> <p>With the Legacy Award, Morales has chosen OCA to receive a $250 mini grant. </p> <p>“I am honored to be a recipient of the Ping Legacy Award and to be able to represent �鶹��Ƶ in this capacity,” he says. “This award represents the service that opened my eyes to the various ways I can connect with and positively influence my community as a performing artist and arts advocate.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-06-11T12:00:00Z">Thu, 06/11/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Amanda Nagy</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2373">Awards and Honors</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3319">Community Engagement</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2372">Performing Arts</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2381">Bonner Center</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=34691">Jazz Performance</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/jazz-studies" hreflang="und">Jazz Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Gabriel Morales ’22 is the recipient of the Ping Student Service Legacy Award from Ohio Campus Compact.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Three �鶹��Ƶ faculty members receive Ohio Arts Council Excellence Awards</h1> <p>anagy — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 21:06:54 +0000</p> <span>Three �鶹��Ƶ faculty members receive Ohio Arts Council Excellence Awards</span> <span><span>anagy</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-02-28T16:06:54-05:00" title="Friday, February 28, 2020 - 16:06">Fri, 02/28/2020 - 16:06</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Ramos, Blumenfeld, and Schaer are among a total of 75 Individual Excellence Award-winning artists from across Ohio. The program recognizes individuals for a recent body of work that exemplifies their discipline, demonstrates creativity, and advances the artistic community at large. Applicants submit their work anonymously, and winners are chosen after an open-panel review process.</p> <p><a href="/alysia-ramos">Ramos</a>, a contemporary choreographer with a focus in hybrid and transnational styles rooted in movements from the African diaspora, was awarded for two collaborative projects. The first, “Forgone Territory,” was produced at the Cleveland Public Theatre and the result of collaboration with �鶹��Ƶ students through the �鶹��Ƶ Dance Project. The piece examines technology and its effects on personal lives, and experiments with immersive theater. The second work, a duet performed at Ohio Dance, was in collaboration with an artist from Ghana.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>Alysia Ramos<br> Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97</figcaption> </figure> <p>For Ramos, winning the Individual Excellence Award validated her professional work in the greater Cleveland area. “It was really exciting because I still feel new to working in the Ohio professional scene,” she said. Ramos’ next project is the �鶹��Ƶ Dance Company spring show in the Irene and Alan Wurtzel Theater, and will explore immersive and sight-specific performance.</p> <p>Blumenfeld specializes in flamenco and contemporary dance and was recognized for two recent bodies of work. One is an evening-length work for her company, Abrepaso Flamenco, that premiered in 2018 at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Inspired by the major works of conservationist Rachel Carson, the piece plays with the translation of visual imagery into movement and music. Her second piece, <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/oberlin/sets/72157704064004092/">“Labyrinths,”</a> is inspired by a Jorge Luis Borges story that uses space and the body as a canvas for metaphors. For Blumenfeld, this work “captures the experience of coming to Flamenco as an American.”</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>Alice Blumenfeld<br> Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97</figcaption> </figure> <p>Blumenfeld seeks inspiration for flamenco choreography from a variety of mediums, including poetry, photographs, and texts. “I love the process of drawing from all these different sources and seeing where it takes me and the new movement that’s developed,” she said, adding that “the award is not about me, but for flamenco.”</p> <p>Schaer, who received the award in the poetry category, received recognition for a work sample of poems that all deal with the relationship between humans and the natural world. Her work explores this relationship in ways both big and small, as exemplified in her recent poems <a href="https://poets.org/poem/holdfast">“Holdfast”</a> and <a href="http://themapisnot.com/issue-viii-robin-beth-schaer">“The Long Now,”</a> which were both featured on the work sample.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>Robin Beth Schaer<br> Credit: Courtesy of Robin Beth Schaer</figcaption> </figure> <p>“I’m interested in climate change and the othering of people and nature, so those sorts of questions end up propelling the work,” said Schaer, who is currently working on a long poem about the color blue, and plans to explore various locations around the world in the piece.</p> <p>For Schaer, winning the award held a deeper meaning. She plans to use the grant for research this summer, but also cited the importance of a state-funded grant specifically, where tax dollars support the arts in local communities. “That’s a mission that I support so deeply,” Schaer said. “The arts enrich all our lives so tremendously.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-02-28T12:00:00Z">Fri, 02/28/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Kyra McConnell ’22</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Alysia Ramos, assistant professor of dance; Alice Blumenfeld, visiting assistant professor of dance; and Robin Schaer, visiting assistant professor of creative writing, have each received $5,000 grants to help them continue to hone their crafts.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2373">Awards and Honors</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2414">Faculty</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2377">Arts & Humanities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2372">Performing Arts</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25331">Dance</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25326">Creative Writing</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/alysia-ramos" hreflang="und">Alysia Ramos</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/dance" hreflang="und">Dance</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/creative-writing" hreflang="und">Creative Writing</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Staging the Real: Workshopping Neo-Futurist Performance Art</h1> <p>anagy — Thu, 30 Jan 2020 21:29:04 +0000</p> <span>Staging the Real: Workshopping Neo-Futurist Performance Art</span> <span><span>anagy</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-01-30T16:29:04-05:00" title="Thursday, January 30, 2020 - 16:29">Thu, 01/30/2020 - 16:29</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A new Winter Term 2020 offering this year introduced students to non-illusory performance art—an aesthetic in which performers do not pretend—culminating in a collaborative presentation of students’ own devising.</p> <p>�鶹��Ƶ theater alumnus <a href="https://www.joeyrizzolo.com/new-page">Joey Rizzolo ’97</a> brought his expertise in Neo-Futurism to teach Staging the Real: Writing, Music Composition, and Performance. This group project invited students with a background in at least one artistic discipline, such as music composition, performance, visual art, and writing, and a willingness to explore other disciplines in a collaborative environment. </p> <p>Neo-Futurism has deep �鶹��Ƶ roots. Greg Allen ’84 pioneered the performance theory and founded the Neo-Futurists—an ensemble of artists who write, direct, and perform original experimental theater in the form of interactive non-fiction performance—in 1988. The Chicago and New York companies have attracted the talent of �鶹��Ƶ alumni Rachel Claff ’95, Julia Melfi ’15, and Rizzolo. </p> <p>Rizzolo has 25 years of teaching experience with all ages. He says he designed the course with an interdisciplinary approach, so that students could come to the creation of performance art from any artistic background. </p> <p>“There are students in this course with areas of expertise which I am not familiar with at all, and they’re bringing in work that I never would have envisioned. We have a site-specific audio installation piece, and another student did a combination installation piece that incorporates video, sculpture, movement, and voices. There are a lot of different components we worked with, and the students were very ambitious about it. One of the challenges was getting them to cut down the number of things they wanted to present, because we had hours of content.”</p> <p>The first two weeks of the project focused on collaborative writing and composition, in which students generated work based on specific prompts, like “create a group movement piece set to music,” “write a monologue in someone else’s voice,” and “create a piece that uses text as a key tool of communication, but none of the text is spoken.”</p> <p>“Sometimes it was musical compositions, sometimes it was autobiography, choreography, or politics,” Rizzolo says. “All of these were prompts they were able to interpret however they wanted. In my experience in teaching this way, people hear a prompt and they think, ‘this is the way to execute it.’ Everyone is always surprised at how people interpret those prompts differently.”</p> <p>On Jan. 31, installation pieces went on display and the students presented their short-form performance art pieces in the Kander Theater. </p> <p>The project drew 16 participants. First-year Rachel Yee says she chose this project because she’s always had a passion for theater, and Neo-Futurism was something she wanted to explore. </p> <p>“I'd never actually put on a play that I wrote myself, so when I saw this Winter Term project, I thought this would be a way to do that,” says Yee, a Technology in Music and Related Arts major from Delaware, Ohio.</p> <p>Yee says she learned how to express herself and her experiences in terms of how she wanted the audience to experience them. “This expression can be as vivid or as vague as it needs to be as long as I'm thinking about how the audience will react, and if that reaction matches the message I'm trying to convey. If I keep this in mind while creating a piece of music, then I can effectively communicate the intent of my composition.”</p> <p>Rizzolo says he was impressed with the quality and artistry of the group. </p> <p>“One of the first things I asked them to do was to create a piece that required them to show off a specific skill or talent so everyone in the room could understand who they were collaborating with. We had amazing drawn visual compositions and songs written in real time. Because these students were approaching it from their own area of artistic familiarity, everything that was brought in astonished me with regard to how mature and developed it was.” </p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-01-31T12:00:00Z">Fri, 01/31/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Amanda Nagy</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2402">Winter Term</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2377">Arts & Humanities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2372">Performing Arts</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25441">Theater</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater" hreflang="und">Theater</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Theater alum Joey Rizzolo ’97 teaches the Staging the Real group.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Dustin Frantz</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Performance Features World Premiere of Ogonek Chamber Concerto</h1> <p>cstrauss — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 21:17:43 +0000</p> <span>Performance Features World Premiere of Ogonek Chamber Concerto</span> <span><span>cstrauss</span></span> <span><time datetime="2019-12-06T16:17:43-05:00" title="Friday, December 6, 2019 - 16:17">Fri, 12/06/2019 - 16:17</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Pianist <a href="https://music.cornell.edu/xak-bjerken">Xak Bjerken</a> will give the premiere performance of Elizabeth Ogonek’s chamber concerto <em>where are we now</em> (2019) tonight at 7:30 p.m., Friday, December 6 in �鶹��Ƶ Conservatory's Warner Concert Hall with the �鶹��Ƶ Contemporary Music Ensemble, under the direction of <a href="/timothy-weiss">Timothy Weiss</a>. The concert is free and can also be <a href="/conservatory/on-stage/live-webcasts/warner-concert-hall-live-webcast">streamed live</a>.</p> <p>Ogonek's piece, cast in seven sections, is based on poetic text by British music critic, novelist, and librettist Paul Griffiths. The work's inventive instrumentation is for male sextet and four percussionists with a prominent solo piano.</p> <p>Bjerken has been performing newly commissioned works at �鶹��Ƶ during the past few years as part of a large-scale project to give premiere performances and recordings of three chamber concertos featuring solo piano. These works were written by �鶹��Ƶ Conservatory composition faculty members—Grammy-winner <a href="/stephen-hartke">Stephen Hartke</a>, Rome Prize- and Guggenheim-winner <a href="/jesse-jones">Jesse Jones</a>, and former Chicago Symphony Orchestra Composer-in-Residence Elizabeth Ogonek.</p> <p>Weiss, director of the �鶹��Ƶ Contemporary Music Ensemble and �鶹��Ƶ Sinfonietta, has been given a grant to record all three works, to be issued on the <a href="https://naxosdirect.com/labels/oberlin-4456">�鶹��Ƶ Music label</a> and distributed by Naxos in 2020. </p> <p>Bjerken is a professor of music at Cornell University. He has appeared with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, the Schoenberg Ensemble, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Disney Hall. He has performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Glinka Hall in St Petersburg, and the Konzerthaus in Berlin, as well as at Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall, and the Kennedy Center. He can be heard in recordings on the CRI, Koch International, Chandos, Albany Records, and Artona labels, and Open G Records.</p> <p>Previous works premiered as part of this project include Jesse Jones’ <em>Persona Mechanica </em>(2016), performed by the �鶹��Ƶ Sinfonietta in October 2017. It was supported by New Music USA and made possible by annual program support and endowment gifts from Justus and Elizabeth Schlichting. Stephen Hartke’s one-movement chamber concerto <em>Ship of State</em> was given its debut performance in March 2018 by the �鶹��Ƶ Sinfonietta. It was commissioned by Bjerken, �鶹��Ƶ Sinfonietta, USC Thornton Edge ensemble, Ensemble X, Riverside Symphony, June in Buffalo, and the Arizona State University Chamber Orchestra.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2019-12-06T12:00:00Z">Fri, 12/06/2019 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Cathy Partlow Strauss</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Pianist Xak Bjerken set to give the premiere performance of Elizabeth Ogonek’s chamber concerto <em>where are we now</em> at 7:30 p.m., Friday, December 6 in �鶹��Ƶ Conservatory’s Warner Concert Hall with the �鶹��Ƶ Contemporary Music Ensemble, under the direction of Timothy Weiss.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2372">Performing Arts</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=33331">Composition</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/stephen-hartke" hreflang="und">Stephen Hartke</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/jesse-jones" hreflang="und">Jesse Jones</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/timothy-weiss" hreflang="und">Timothy Weiss</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/contemporary-music" hreflang="und">Contemporary Music</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/conducting-and-ensembles" hreflang="und">Conducting and Ensembles</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Pictured (left to right): Elizabeth Ogonek, Stephen Hartke, Xak Bjerken, Timothy Weiss, and Jesse Jones.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Michael Hartman</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>A Feast of Foolishness</h1> <p>eburnett — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 20:50:42 +0000</p> <span>A Feast of Foolishness</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2019-10-17T16:50:42-04:00" title="Thursday, October 17, 2019 - 16:50">Thu, 10/17/2019 - 16:50</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Our understanding of the world has come a long way since the days when Shakespeare wrote of fairies and other fanciful creatures in <em>A Midsummer Night’s Dream</em>.</p> <p>But a similar guiding principle endures today—one that keeps the story as relevant as ever, according to Jonathon Field, director of �鶹��Ƶ Opera Theater’s forthcoming production.</p> <p>“When<em> A Midsummer Night’s Dream</em> was written by Shakespeare so many hundreds of years ago, we had people who were considered <em>learned</em> who told us what was true about things we couldn’t see,” Field says. “And people simply believed it.</p> <p>“Even today, there are still unseen forces controlling our lives. But today the learned people are talking about neutrinos and quarks and Higgs bosen.”</p> <p>But since astrophysical concepts don’t fill theaters like fairies and love triangles do, �鶹��Ƶ Opera Theater will stick with Britten’s 1960 adaptation of Shakespeare. <em>A Midsummer Night’s Dream</em> will be presented in four performances at Hall Auditorium (67 N. Main St.) beginning at 8 p.m. Wednesday, November 6.</p> <p>Additional performances are scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, November 8 and 9; the production concludes with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, November 10.</p> <p>One of the most beloved operas of the 20th century, <em>A Midsummer Night’s Dream </em>follows Shakespeare’s original concept of a play within a play, all centered around the planned nuptials of Theseus, the duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, as well as the arranged marriage of the duke’s daughter Hermia to Demetrius—each of whom pines for a different partner.</p> <p>When these misaligned passions lead Hermia and her lover Lysander to flee Athens, they wind up lost in the woods, where they encounter a population of fairies. In an attempt to restore order to the various relationships and teach a lesson along the way, the fairy king Oberon instructs his mischievous servant Puck to administer a substance to the eyelids of a sleeping Titania, thus causing her to fall in love with the first being she sees upon awakening. Further mischief—and misaligned passions—ensue when Puck administers the same substance to a member of a troupe of actors preparing a play for the upcoming wedding.</p> <p>It is from the mouth of Puck that we hear the phrase <em>What fools these mortals be</em>, one of the most enduring lines in all of stage history—and an apt summation of the story’s central theme.</p> <p>The libretto, supplied by Britten and Peter Pears (who portrayed one of the actors in the opera’s premiere production), condenses the story and emphasizes the woodland fairy world.</p> <p><em>A Midsummer Night’s Dream</em> enjoys enduring popularity largely for its wildly varied score. It serves up distinct musical sound worlds for each of the three main character groups—the noble lovers, the ethereal fairies, and the rustic actors—and evokes styles and derives inspiration from folk-like music and the Baroque era to 12-tone writing. It will be performed by the �鶹��Ƶ Orchestra, under the direction of Christopher Larkin.</p> <p>Joining the standout cast of �鶹��Ƶ Conservatory singers is countertenor Andrew Lipian, a 2012 graduate of �鶹��Ƶ College. Lipian will sing the role of the fairy king, in what is known as Britten’s most startling innovation in opera: He composed the lead male role for the male soprano voice. The cast of fairies also includes members of �鶹��Ƶ Choristers, a community-based choral program for children.</p> <p>“The thing I like about fairies is that with all the magic that happens, we as audience members become OK with the fact that we don’t have control over every aspect of what we’re doing in our lives,” says Field.</p> <p>“Plus, the fairies get all the best music.”</p> <p>Tickets for<em> A Midsummer Night’s Dream</em> at �鶹��Ƶ are $10 ($8 for students), available by calling 800-371-0178, <a href="/artsguide/opera-theater">online at oberlin.edu/artsguide</a>, or by visiting Central Ticket Service (Nord Annex, next to Hall Auditorium) Monday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m.</p> <p>In conjunction with the opera, the discussion “<a href="https://calendar.oberlin.edu/event/richard_murphy_musicology_colloquium_charles_mcguire_moderator">Midautumn Perspectives on <em>A Midsummer Night’s Dream</em></a>” will take place at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, November 9, in Stull Recital Hall (77 W. College St.). Part of �鶹��Ƶ Conservatory’s Richard Murphy Musicology Colloquium series, it will feature Imani Mosley, a visiting assistant professor of musicology at Wichita State University; �鶹��Ƶ College theater professor Paul Moser; and Jonathon Field. The talk will be moderated by musicology professor Charles McGuire.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2019-10-17T12:00:00Z">Thu, 10/17/2019 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>�鶹��Ƶ Opera Theater presents the Britten comedy <em>A Midsummer Night’s Dream</em> Nov. 6-10.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2372">Performing Arts</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=35596">Voice</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=32971">Opera Theater</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/vocal-studies" hreflang="und">Vocal Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Arthur Rackham / Alamy Stock Photo</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> </main></body></html>